We Are All Illegal Aliens

 

I figured that we would hear some crazy things about the fires in Los Angeles, but I assumed that the craziest things would be about climate change. And we have heard just those things already mentioned in the mainstream media.

But, in fact, someone has said something even crazier. Listening to the radio, I heard someone say that the reason this happened was because “humans have moved into natural spaces.” I don’t know about you, but I have always lived in a natural space and everyone I know does too.

So, are we humans just invaders on the earth living in places where we do not belong? We know that there are more risky and less risky places to live. We all make those choices. We ought to be ready for when a natural disaster occurs. (Obviously, many governmental officials do not agree.)

What is very strange to me is that sometimes environmental activists talk as if humans are not doing what we ought to do and living where we ought to live, while animals should live as they please. We are not to disrupt this wonderful order with our buildings and lifestyle and such. They talk to us as if we are not part of the natural world.

Oddly, this is similar to what the Bible teaches. In Genesis, chapter 1, it is recorded that God made birds for the air, fish for the sea and land animals for the land, but man (generically speaking) was made in God’s image. In other words, humans were not made like the animals but above them, though we have animal-like bodies that need shelter, food and the like.

The big difference between the Bible believer and the environmentalist is how their views of the role of mankind fit in the world. The Bible gives us dominion over the earth and all the creatures on it, while environmentalists want to make us subservient to it. They don’t want us to push dangerous animals out of our spaces or destroy the ecosystem of some endangered species.

But we have always done just that and I am fine with it. We transform spaces to make them nice for ourselves. Sometimes we do it well, and sometimes we do not — and suffer the consequences when it’s the latter. We learn as we go. We have preserved some beautiful places, and have ruined others. Sometimes, that cannot be helped. We need places to live. We need to make a living. We need to remove trees and plant crops. And, yes, we need to tear down Paradise and put up a parking lot or two so that we have somewhere to park.

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  1. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    It is not humans per se but all those other humans. Ideally they would not try to build homes or other structures close to my pristine, forested 20 acres around my eco-friendly 3,500 sq ft home. Third worlders should go back to hunter-gatherer/lite agricultural lifestyles and colorful rituals and crafts. The tacky Walmart class in the USA would disappear entirely but still leave behind an economic infrastructure sufficient to provide my usual Amazon purchases and nice restaurants.  This is what the planet really wants.

    • #1
  2. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    An evil developer is someone who wants to build a house in the woods.  A selfless environmentalist is someone who already has a house in the woods.

    • #2
  3. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    P.S.  I am a “Native American.”  I was born here.

    • #3
  4. Tex929rr Coolidge
    Tex929rr
    @Tex929rr

    In the fire service we talk a lot about the challenge of the urban/wildland interface.  California has been the biggest and best known example for decades.  The Balconies Escarpment in Texas is now regarded as a bigger potential problem.  As people move into ranch land (previously managed by ranchers who know how to mitigate risks) the risk of a serious fire increases.  Typically newer home owners in these spaces don’t cut the tall grasses, build their homes right up against thick brush and trees, build more fences, and create many more ignition sources.  Basically no fire breaks.

    We have a new subdivision where the developer is building homes on 6-10 acres lots in the middle of a giant dense cedar forest with homes 10 feet from the cedar.  I’ve worn my self out trying to get the developer to cut the cedar back so we can defend the homes but he is not interested, and we can’t force him.  I’m hoping we can get the residents interested after they move in.  We are a strong property rights state so persuasion is our only tool.

    Environmentalists are boneheads, but I think you hear a poorly articulated description of a real problem.

    • #4
  5. DonG (¡Afuera!) Coolidge
    DonG (¡Afuera!)
    @DonG

    kedavis (View Comment):

    P.S. I am a “Native American.” I was born here.

    Humans are not native to the Americas.  All of us are descended from migrants.   On the other hand, the natural range of humans covers pole to pole and even the moon. 

    • #5
  6. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Tex929rr (View Comment):
    We have a new subdivision where the developer is building homes on 6-10 acres lots in the middle of a giant dense cedar forest with homes 10 feet from the cedar.  I’ve worn my self out trying to get the developer to cut the cedar back so we can defend the homes but he is not interested, and we can’t force him.  I’m hoping we can get the residents interested after they move in.  We are a strong property rights state so persuasion is our only tool.

    If nothing else, maybe insurance premiums will convince them.

    • #6
  7. Tex929rr Coolidge
    Tex929rr
    @Tex929rr

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Tex929rr (View Comment):
    We have a new subdivision where the developer is building homes on 6-10 acres lots in the middle of a giant dense cedar forest with homes 10 feet from the cedar. I’ve worn my self out trying to get the developer to cut the cedar back so we can defend the homes but he is not interested, and we can’t force him. I’m hoping we can get the residents interested after they move in. We are a strong property rights state so persuasion is our only tool.

    If nothing else, maybe insurance premiums will convince them.

    And that has only recently become an issue.  Insurers are using satellite photos to assess wildfire risk and actually cancelled some policies.  Here is the funny part:  we started a Community Wildfire Protection Plan, a big complicated process to assess risk and devise mitigation strategies.  About 6 months after we finished the initial plan, insurers started cancelling coverages and the people who were cancelled were angry about the plan.  This is going to end up being like flood insurance. 

    • #7
  8. namlliT noD Member
    namlliT noD
    @DonTillman

    Teeger: But, in fact, someone has said something even crazier. Listening to the radio, I heard someone say that the reason this happened was because “humans have moved into natural spaces”. I don’t know about you, but I have always lived in a natural space and everyone I know does too. 

    Certainly crazy.

    But I would ask, why would they say this?  What’s the intent?

    • #8
  9. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Tex929rr (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Tex929rr (View Comment):
    We have a new subdivision where the developer is building homes on 6-10 acres lots in the middle of a giant dense cedar forest with homes 10 feet from the cedar. I’ve worn my self out trying to get the developer to cut the cedar back so we can defend the homes but he is not interested, and we can’t force him. I’m hoping we can get the residents interested after they move in. We are a strong property rights state so persuasion is our only tool.

    If nothing else, maybe insurance premiums will convince them.

    And that has only recently become an issue. Insurers are using satellite photos to assess wildfire risk and actually cancelled some policies. Here is the funny part: we started a Community Wildfire Protection Plan, a big complicated process to assess risk and devise mitigation strategies. About 6 months after we finished the initial plan, insurers started cancelling coverages and the people who were cancelled were angry about the plan. This is going to end up being like flood insurance.

    Thing is, mortgages typically require insurance.  If the buyer doesn’t get their own, the lender does, and adds the premiums to the mortgage payments.  They might even have their own insurance “arm.”  Some people are in for some big surprises.

    • #9
  10. Dr. Bastiat Member
    Dr. Bastiat
    @drbastiat

    DonG (¡Afuera!) (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    P.S. I am a “Native American.” I was born here.

    Humans are not native to the Americas. 

    Like kedavis, I am native to the Americas.  I was born here.

    Where else am I a native of?

    • #10
  11. Barfly Member
    Barfly
    @Barfly

    DonG (¡Afuera!) (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    P.S. I am a “Native American.” I was born here.

    Humans are not native to the Americas. All of us are descended from migrants. On the other hand, the natural range of humans covers pole to pole and even the moon.

    How far back in time do you have to go, to find that magic line where suddenly everything before it is native and everything that came later is a migrant?

    • #11
  12. Dr. Bastiat Member
    Dr. Bastiat
    @drbastiat

    Barfly (View Comment):

    DonG (¡Afuera!) (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    P.S. I am a “Native American.” I was born here.

    Humans are not native to the Americas. All of us are descended from migrants. On the other hand, the natural range of humans covers pole to pole and even the moon.

    How far back in time do you have to go, to find that magic line where suddenly everything before it is native and everything that came later is a migrant?

    For me personally, I suppose that line would be in 1968.

    • #12
  13. CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill
    @CarolJoy

    @dontillman

    This meme of protecting natural spaces has been around since the signing of the Sustainability Pact by a majority of the planet’s national leaders  back in 1992. It is basically A Pact Ensuring Human Deprivation.

    Poppy Bush signed off on it.

    Here is a summary from Wikipedia, regarding the international agreement supported by 195 nations:

    “The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, often shortened to Rio Declaration, was a short document produced at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), informally known as the Earth Summit. The Rio Declaration consisted of 27 principles intended to guide countries in future sustainable development. It was signed by over 175 countries.”

    A quite young and enthused Nancy Pelosi celebrated its passage that year by addressing a session of Congress about this sustainability pact’s complete necessity and its overwhelming importance.

    For most of us in the public, we then signed off on it too. After all, it was presented as a minor salute to the environmental movement: communities having decent re-cycling programs, everyone who desired it planting a tree, and nations supporting national and state or provincial wild life parks, plus other non-threatening ideas.

    But as always, the devil is in the details. By 2015, I had watched a PBS sponsored 90 minute program that supposedly would offer a window into the world of two Americans who retraced the route of Lewis and Clark. Indeed the program did that. It had a camera team follow the intrepid adventurers as they boated along the Missouri River from the MidWest out into the wilds of Wyoming and Montana.

    But the commentator engaged the two men on discussions about what a relief it was that along this route,  no longer were there any domiciles where humans  could use as shelters were they to hunt or to need the ability to survive while being lost in the wilderness. Repeatedly the conversations centered on how fortunate the planet was that humans were being allowed only infrequent visits to our wilderness areas. Additionally, ranchers were being hit with so many new rules and regulations that their presence was fast disappearing. One image displayed half a dozen times was the carcass of a dead deer or elk, that had met its fate in a blizzard and become enmeshed in barbed wire.

    At one point a map was shown, which displayed how the major goal is the elimination of any human involvement with the wilderness from Wyoming clear across to Calif, Oregon and Washington!

    The people in this documentary all applauded each and every “sustainability” provision.

    Robert Brame, the arborist now giving talks on the massive fires of the past 8 years, has seen this aspect in spades. Where just a few years ago, visitors to America’s wilderness areas  could park along roadsides and venture out from there, now people can park only in carefully designated parking lots. On top of that, the lots cannot handle the numbers of people who wish to visit such places. So from now on, many people will only have the experience of driving into such regions and then driving right out. Hardly the sort of experience that allows the public to enjoy “our” parks.

    • #13
  14. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    I think on Wednesday and definitely Thursday, Larry Elder was reading from an L.A. Times article about how under resourced the L.A. fire department was. It is staggering. These people are fools. 

    I don’t think his podcast has the complete show, but you might check it out.

    This is just my amateur opinion, but beyond the obvious that is in that article, they should make everybody have a swimming pool with a pump, hose, and several sprinklers. A couple of people saved basically two neighborhoods that way.

    • #14
  15. CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill
    @CarolJoy

    The obvious and tragic ultimate goal of the philosophy of preventing humans from living in natural spaces is the creation of 15 Minute Cities.

    Officials in California have bragged about their determination to make LA such a city by the time LA hosts the Olympics in 2028.

    The world of The Internet Of Things doesn’t need 86% of the warm bodies on the planet.

    Because many in the pubic are starting to understand everything that these overly organized dystopian cities involve, it is possible to entertain certain ideas. One idea that has been running through the brains of the Globalists is that since most normal people would do whatever they could to avoid turning their neighborhoods into  car-less, segregated and top-down controlled lifestyles,  then officials inside the Inner Circle realized that something needs to happen.  Floods, landslides, and fires  are calamities that accomplish the goal of public-removal.

    We have had since the late 1940’s the technology to seed clouds so droughts are a thing of the past. Yet over the past 12 years in Calif, I have not heard one single person in office in this state suggest we look into turning to that program. Why has there been  no clamor for this useful program? And yes, it requires overcast skies. But like every place else in the US, skies in No Calif are perpetually hazy in the summer. The morning of the huge Valley Fire Of Lake County Sept 2015, my area had thick overcast skies. It would have been a perfect day to take charge of the weather and cause those clouds to drop down rain. (People in other parts of the county did not have clouds, but the northerly wind would have pushed the rain into the exact territory where the fire hit.)

    So I won’t discuss at length  any notions of the ability to control weather and thus bring about calamities. But for Goodness Sake,  why are we not using technology to prevent them??

    • #15
  16. CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill
    @CarolJoy

    I commend the OP author for the title “Are We All Illegal Aliens?”

    Sustainability doctrines state that yes we are.

    Now “Time” Magazine weighs in: Apparently some illegal aliens are lesser humans than others.

    Time’s thesis is this:

    How Land Reshuffling Made the American West’s Racial Divide

    https://time.com/7205319/land-reshuffling-racial-divide-essay/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

    • #16
  17. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    I think on Wednesday and definitely Thursday, Larry Elder was reading from an L.A. Times article about how under resourced the L.A. fire department was. It is staggering. These people are fools.

    I don’t think his podcast has the complete show, but you might check it out.

    This is just my amateur opinion, but beyond the obvious that is in that article, they should make everybody have a swimming pool with a pump, hose, and several sprinklers. A couple of people saved basically two neighborhoods that way.

    Gasoline powered pump; not electric.

    • #17
  18. DaveSchmidt Coolidge
    DaveSchmidt
    @DaveSchmidt

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Tex929rr (View Comment):
    We have a new subdivision where the developer is building homes on 6-10 acres lots in the middle of a giant dense cedar forest with homes 10 feet from the cedar. I’ve worn my self out trying to get the developer to cut the cedar back so we can defend the homes but he is not interested, and we can’t force him. I’m hoping we can get the residents interested after they move in. We are a strong property rights state so persuasion is our only tool.

    If nothing else, maybe insurance premiums will convince them.

    I’d love it if thre were some kind of fire risk fee akin to flood insurance.  

    • #18
  19. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    DaveSchmidt (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Tex929rr (View Comment):
    We have a new subdivision where the developer is building homes on 6-10 acres lots in the middle of a giant dense cedar forest with homes 10 feet from the cedar. I’ve worn my self out trying to get the developer to cut the cedar back so we can defend the homes but he is not interested, and we can’t force him. I’m hoping we can get the residents interested after they move in. We are a strong property rights state so persuasion is our only tool.

    If nothing else, maybe insurance premiums will convince them.

    I’d love it if thre were some kind of fire risk fee akin to flood insurance.

    Apparently, that’s what the companies were trying to do, but California made it illegal for them to charge appropriate premiums, so several insurance companies just stopped having policies there.  That’s why many people were cancelled at the start of the year.  A lot of them probably weren’t able to get insurance from another company.

    People seem to think that having their house continually increase in value – actually price, not “value” – is great, but they don’t consider that it also means ever-increasing insurance costs, and property taxes…  Even without increaing risks.

    • #19
  20. CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill
    @CarolJoy

    kedavis (View Comment):

    DaveSchmidt (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Tex929rr (View Comment):
    We have a new subdivision where the developer is building homes on 6-10 acres lots in the middle of a giant dense cedar forest with homes 10 feet from the cedar. I’ve worn my self out trying to get the developer to cut the cedar back so we can defend the homes but he is not interested, and we can’t force him. I’m hoping we can get the residents interested after they move in. We are a strong property rights state so persuasion is our only tool.

    If nothing else, maybe insurance premiums will convince them.

    I’d love it if thre were some kind of fire risk fee akin to flood insurance.

    Apparently, that’s what the companies were trying to do, but California made it illegal for them to charge appropriate premiums, so several insurance companies just stopped having policies there. That’s why many people were cancelled at the start of the year. A lot of them probably weren’t able to get insurance from another company.

    People seem to think that having their house continually increase in value – actually price, not “value” – is great, but they don’t consider that it also means ever-increasing insurance costs, and property taxes… Even without increasing risks.

    Many Californians did consider the ideas expressed in your last paragraph.

    They also were sick of Left Wing Cra Cra policies.

    And that is why The Golden State  has lost 1 million people over the last several years.

    • #20
  21. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    DaveSchmidt (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Tex929rr (View Comment):
    We have a new subdivision where the developer is building homes on 6-10 acres lots in the middle of a giant dense cedar forest with homes 10 feet from the cedar. I’ve worn my self out trying to get the developer to cut the cedar back so we can defend the homes but he is not interested, and we can’t force him. I’m hoping we can get the residents interested after they move in. We are a strong property rights state so persuasion is our only tool.

    If nothing else, maybe insurance premiums will convince them.

    I’d love it if thre were some kind of fire risk fee akin to flood insurance.

    Apparently, that’s what the companies were trying to do, but California made it illegal for them to charge appropriate premiums, so several insurance companies just stopped having policies there. That’s why many people were cancelled at the start of the year. A lot of them probably weren’t able to get insurance from another company.

    People seem to think that having their house continually increase in value – actually price, not “value” – is great, but they don’t consider that it also means ever-increasing insurance costs, and property taxes… Even without increasing risks.

    Many Californians did consider the ideas expressed in your last paragraph.

    They also were sick of Left Wing Cra Cra policies.

    And that is why The Golden State has lost 1 million people over the last several years.

    But The Curley Effect means those problems get worse as a result, not better.

    • #21
  22. CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill
    @CarolJoy

    kedavis (View Comment):

    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    DaveSchmidt (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Tex929rr (View Comment):
    We have a new subdivision where the developer is building homes on 6-10 acres lots in the middle of a giant dense cedar forest with homes 10 feet from the cedar. I’ve worn my self out trying to get the developer to cut the cedar back so we can defend the homes but he is not interested, and we can’t force him. I’m hoping we can get the residents interested after they move in. We are a strong property rights state so persuasion is our only tool.

    If nothing else, maybe insurance premiums will convince them.

    I’d love it if thre were some kind of fire risk fee akin to flood insurance.

    Apparently, that’s what the companies were trying to do, but California made it illegal for them to charge appropriate premiums, so several insurance companies just stopped having policies there. That’s why many people were cancelled at the start of the year. A lot of them probably weren’t able to get insurance from another company.

    People seem to think that having their house continually increase in value – actually price, not “value” – is great, but they don’t consider that it also means ever-increasing insurance costs, and property taxes… Even without increasing risks.

    Many Californians did consider the ideas expressed in your last paragraph.

    They also were sick of Left Wing Cra Cra policies.

    And that is why The Golden State has lost 1 million people over the last several years.

    But The Curley Effect means those problems get worse as a result, not better.

    Some situations remain as they are, regardless of how many people like them or not.

    For instance, the state’s “Franchise Tax Board.” If you run afoul of that agency, there is little way to solve the problem. (I’d rather deal with the IRS 4 times a year than the FTB once every ten years.)

    They do not respond to letters. They do not necessarily answer their phones. A friend who is employed by a mid sized accountancy firm told me they have two separate phone lines dedicated to repeatedly calling the FTB using auto dial until the call is answered. It is not unusual for that to take two weeks!

    My small company was clipped some 900 bucks plus, for a minor matter I had handled improperly. (And it was due to their misdirection that I had handled it in the manner in which I had done so.)

    A publishing company like ours can declare bankruptcy, if hassled severely enough, then move out of state and start all over again. (Print on demand means that outside of our personal printer, we have no printing equipment.) However, anyone who is a manufacturer or provides any services where massive amounts of equipment are in place   is not in that position. (At least, not without thinking the matter over for a while.)

    • #22
  23. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    DaveSchmidt (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Tex929rr (View Comment):
    We have a new subdivision where the developer is building homes on 6-10 acres lots in the middle of a giant dense cedar forest with homes 10 feet from the cedar. I’ve worn my self out trying to get the developer to cut the cedar back so we can defend the homes but he is not interested, and we can’t force him. I’m hoping we can get the residents interested after they move in. We are a strong property rights state so persuasion is our only tool.

    If nothing else, maybe insurance premiums will convince them.

    I’d love it if thre were some kind of fire risk fee akin to flood insurance.

    Apparently, that’s what the companies were trying to do, but California made it illegal for them to charge appropriate premiums, so several insurance companies just stopped having policies there. That’s why many people were cancelled at the start of the year. A lot of them probably weren’t able to get insurance from another company.

    People seem to think that having their house continually increase in value – actually price, not “value” – is great, but they don’t consider that it also means ever-increasing insurance costs, and property taxes… Even without increasing risks.

    Many Californians did consider the ideas expressed in your last paragraph.

    They also were sick of Left Wing Cra Cra policies.

    And that is why The Golden State has lost 1 million people over the last several years.

    But The Curley Effect means those problems get worse as a result, not better.

    Some situations remain as they are, regardless of how many people like them or not.

    For instance, the state’s “Franchise Tax Board.” If you run afoul of that agency, there is little way to solve the problem. (I’d rather deal with the IRS 4 times a year than the FTB once every ten years.)

    They do not respond to letters. They do not necessarily answer their phones. A friend who is employed by a mid sized accountancy firm told me they have two separate phone lines dedicated to repeatedly calling the FTB using auto dial until the call is answered. It is not unusual for that to take two weeks!

    My small company was clipped some 900 bucks plus, for a minor matter I had handled improperly. (And it was due to their misdirection that I had handled it in the manner in which I had done so.)

    A publishing company like ours can declare bankruptcy, if hassled severely enough, then move out of state and start all over again. (Print on demand means that outside of our personal printer, we have no printing equipment.) However, anyone who is a manufacturer or provides any services where massive amounts of equipment are in place is not in that position. (At least, not without thinking the matter over for a while.)

    And the voters mostly don’t care, because they’re not themselves business operators/owners.  Meanwhile TPTB can assure them that all the regulation etc is “for their protection.”

    Massive numbers of illegals care even less.

    Which further reinforces the Curley Effect.

    • #23
  24. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    kedavis (View Comment):
    People seem to think that having their house continually increase in value – actually price, not “value” – is great, but they don’t consider that it also means ever-increasing insurance costs, and property taxes…  Even without increaing risks.

    YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS! THIS IS UN-AMERICAN! WHAT ABOUT THE LOANS AND THE FRACTIONAL RESERVE BANKING SYSTEM? PLEASE SUBMIT YOURSELF FOR ARREST! 

     

    wE LiKe lOwer PRiceS fRom autOMatioN aND gLoBaLiZeD tRadE bUT wE neeD inFLation aNyWaY sO mY houSE goEs up. 

     

    Inflationism is running out of runway. God and Man make prices go down and the central Banks force them up. This is a fact.

    • #24
  25. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    kedavis (View Comment):
    Apparently, that’s what the companies were trying to do, but California made it illegal for them to charge appropriate premiums, so several insurance companies just stopped having policies there.  That’s why many people were cancelled at the start of the year.  A lot of them probably weren’t able to get insurance from another company.

    We need more inflation. This is obvious to anybody with a brain. What is wrong with people? 

    • #25
  26. Steve Fast Member
    Steve Fast
    @SteveFast

    Tex929rr (View Comment):

    In the fire service we talk a lot about the challenge of the urban/wildland interface. California has been the biggest and best known example for decades. The Balconies Escarpment in Texas is now regarded as a bigger potential problem. As people move into ranch land (previously managed by ranchers who know how to mitigate risks) the risk of a serious fire increases. Typically newer home owners in these spaces don’t cut the tall grasses, build their homes right up against thick brush and trees, build more fences, and create many more ignition sources. Basically no fire breaks.

    We have a new subdivision where the developer is building homes on 6-10 acres lots in the middle of a giant dense cedar forest with homes 10 feet from the cedar. I’ve worn my self out trying to get the developer to cut the cedar back so we can defend the homes but he is not interested, and we can’t force him. I’m hoping we can get the residents interested after they move in. We are a strong property rights state so persuasion is our only tool.

    Environmentalists are boneheads, but I think you hear a poorly articulated description of a real problem.

    Maybe you could do a demo for them. Light a cedar on fire and see what happens.

    • #26
  27. DaveSchmidt Coolidge
    DaveSchmidt
    @DaveSchmidt

    Steve Fast (View Comment):

    Tex929rr (View Comment):

    In the fire service we talk a lot about the challenge of the urban/wildland interface. California has been the biggest and best known example for decades. The Balconies Escarpment in Texas is now regarded as a bigger potential problem. As people move into ranch land (previously managed by ranchers who know how to mitigate risks) the risk of a serious fire increases. Typically newer home owners in these spaces don’t cut the tall grasses, build their homes right up against thick brush and trees, build more fences, and create many more ignition sources. Basically no fire breaks.

    We have a new subdivision where the developer is building homes on 6-10 acres lots in the middle of a giant dense cedar forest with homes 10 feet from the cedar. I’ve worn my self out trying to get the developer to cut the cedar back so we can defend the homes but he is not interested, and we can’t force him. I’m hoping we can get the residents interested after they move in. We are a strong property rights state so persuasion is our only tool.

    Environmentalists are boneheads, but I think you hear a poorly articulated description of a real problem.

    Maybe you could do a demo for them. Light a cedar on fire and see what happens.

    Cedar burns well. 

    • #27
  28. ED SMITH Coolidge
    ED SMITH
    @EDWARDSMITH

    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    DaveSchmidt (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Tex929rr (View Comment):
    We have a new subdivision where the developer is building homes on 6-10 acres lots in the middle of a giant dense cedar forest with homes 10 feet from the cedar. I’ve worn my self out trying to get the developer to cut the cedar back so we can defend the homes but he is not interested, and we can’t force him. I’m hoping we can get the residents interested after they move in. We are a strong property rights state so persuasion is our only tool.

    If nothing else, maybe insurance premiums will convince them.

    I’d love it if thre were some kind of fire risk fee akin to flood insurance.

    Apparently, that’s what the companies were trying to do, but California made it illegal for them to charge appropriate premiums, so several insurance companies just stopped having policies there. That’s why many people were cancelled at the start of the year. A lot of them probably weren’t able to get insurance from another company.

    People seem to think that having their house continually increase in value – actually price, not “value” – is great, but they don’t consider that it also means ever-increasing insurance costs, and property taxes… Even without increasing risks.

    Many Californians did consider the ideas expressed in your last paragraph.

    They also were sick of Left Wing Cra Cra policies.

    And that is why The Golden State has lost 1 million people over the last several years.

    But The Curley Effect means those problems get worse as a result, not better.

    Some situations remain as they are, regardless of how many people like them or not.

    For instance, the state’s “Franchise Tax Board.” If you run afoul of that agency, there is little way to solve the problem. (I’d rather deal with the IRS 4 times a year than the FTB once every ten years.)

    They do not respond to letters. They do not necessarily answer their phones. A friend who is employed by a mid sized accountancy firm told me they have two separate phone lines dedicated to repeatedly calling the FTB using auto dial until the call is answered. It is not unusual for that to take two weeks!

    My small company was clipped some 900 bucks plus, for a minor matter I had handled improperly. (And it was due to their misdirection that I had handled it in the manner in which I had done so.)

    A publishing company like ours can declare bankruptcy, if hassled severely enough, then move out of state and start all over again. (Print on demand means that outside of our personal printer, we have no printing equipment.) However, anyone who is a manufacturer or provides any services where massive amounts of equipment are in place is not in that position. (At least, not without thinking the matter over for a while.)

    I’m a tax accountant specializing in representing clients and I’ve been dealing with the IRS and FTB for over 20 years.  The only time that either were not answering phones was during the Covid period and the gov’t shutdown.  Also, there are several different professional lines for different departments that can be called for different reasons and if one line is slow answering another can be called an usually patch you through.    The FTB lines will call you back if there is high call volume.  The IRS has initiated this recently.

     

    • #28
  29. DaveSchmidt Coolidge
    DaveSchmidt
    @DaveSchmidt

    kedavis (View Comment):

    An evil developer is someone who wants to build a house in the woods. A selfless environmentalist is someone who already has a house in the woods.

    Reminds me of a professor who blurbs his work “America’s foremost wilderness historian.”  

    • #29
  30. DaveSchmidt Coolidge
    DaveSchmidt
    @DaveSchmidt

    DonG (¡Afuera!) (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    P.S. I am a “Native American.” I was born here.

    Humans are not native to the Americas. All of us are descended from migrants. On the other hand, the natural range of humans covers pole to pole and even the moon.

    Even the “native Americans” that participated in the cultural encounters with Europeans and others, were not the first human inhabitants of the Western Hemisphere.  

    • #30
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